Indie Squid Kid

Frozen giant squid, originally uploaded by Timmy Toucan.

Preserved Architeuthis dux at the Melbourne Aquarium.

Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Concern is the cyber-arm of Dave Eggers’ hipster publishing empire. If you need one reason to pay this site a visit, that reason would be Notes on “Sweet Child O’ Mine” as delivered to Axl Rose by his editor. If you need a second reason, I reckon that would be this shirt here.

“Squid T-shirt” features the two largest living invertebrates: Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni (aka the Colossal Squid) and Architeuthis dux (aka the Giant Squid). While it is true that the Colossal Squid edges out the Giant Squid in both mass and length, “Mr. McSweeney” has perhaps misrepresented this size difference just a tad.

This American Apparel shirt is $22.00 and comes in men’s and women’s sizes. Be warned, however, these sizes run small. I have a men’s large, and, despite losing about 30 lbs in the past year, it still doesn’t quite look flattering on me (which is why I didn’t post a photo of myself wearing the shirt). That being said, you should still…

Buy it now from The McSweeney’s Store!

Dan Beard, 1887

Via Cephalolove (via finegarten)

design by Brandon Ancone

I have been eager to feature this particular Threadless design since I restarted ISK last year, but I was holding off on the hope that they would eventually reprint it…and now they have! Most squid v. whale scenes usually leave little doubt that the whale is going to end up with a stomach full of delicious ika sashimi, but I have a definite feeling that whale sushi is on the menu tonight!

“The Squid vs. The Whale” is $18 (on White American Apparel tee) and is, at the time of this writing, still available in all men’s and women’s sizes.

Buy it now from Threadless!

Incidentally, I first heard about this shirt on the old Squid.us blog. All cephalopod aficionados everywhere were waving their tentacles with joy on January 12 when it rose again from the murky depths. Welcome back Squid.us!

My plans for a week of short Christmas ornament posts got waylaid by a time destroying combination of illness, work, weather, and social commitments. So here are the two that were intended for Thursday and Friday…

This Santopus (or should that be Cephaloclaus?) ornament sports a biologically inaccurate toothy grin (and eye brows), but I’m willing to go easy on it because its arms all twist and curl in different directions. And I think that’s neat.

This one is probably my favorite of the bunch—a Sperm Whale and and a Giant Squid (and some echinoderms) on a wreath of seaweed. The ornament came from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. It is particularly appropriate because the museum’s logo was inspired by one of the oldest specimens in their collection: a complete skeleton of Physeter macrocephalus.

I really should have included this in last week’s Holiday Shopping Guide, so consider this an addendum. This three-button polo features the by-now-familiar Gama-Go Giant Squid and is available in Black, Navy, and Khaki. It originally retailed for $32, but it is currently on sale for a mere $12 USD!!! My guess is that this sale will probably last until they are sold out…so what are you waiting for?? Buy from Gama-Go.com.

, originally uploaded by Divine Harvester.

I’m not what the story behind this is, but I like it!

Update: The photographer says that he spotted this sign in the Old Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, WA.

This one-of-a-kind simulated Sperm Whale tooth is 4.5″ long and made of resin. The base is black walnut, and the Egyptian-styled stand is cold cast bronze. On its reverse side there is depicted a mermaid decked out in steampunk gear. Available at Tom Banwell’s Etsy shop for $79.00.

Also available at Tom Banwell Leather is a wide assortment of hand-made leather Halloween masks, and visit his blog for a look at his many other fantastic steampunk projects—masks, helmets and ray guns, oh my!

We interrupt Halloween Week to bring you this exciting news bulletin:

Sperm Whales have finally been photographed feeding on Giant Squids!

It has long been known that the Giant Squid was on the menu of Physeter macrocephalus, the Sperm Whale, but the legendary encounter has never been captured on film. Before the first specimens of Architeuthis were described by science, whalers would find their remains among the stomach contents of harvested Sperm Whales, and those whales would sometimes bear enormous sucker scars. There were even reports from sailors who claim to have witnessed the two leviathans locked in mortal combat, and the image of squid vs. whale has become iconic.

Underwater photographer Tony Wu photographed a pod of six whales—five adults and a calf—in the waters off Japan’s Ogasawara Islands (the same area where scientists filmed a living Giant Squid for the first time back in 2005). Dr Mark Norman speculates that the adults were in the process of teaching the young whale how to dive and hunt for food. Recovered nearby was one of the squid’s 3.5 meter long tentacles.

See these amazing photos at The Daily Mail Online.

It’s 10/10, Squid Day, and the last of the International Cephalopod Awareness Days. I ran out of time to get the big post I’d planned to have finished by today, so instead I thought I’d take advantage of all this increased awareness to try to get a little mystery solved.

When I was a kid in the 70s, I remember one of our neighbors had a cool set of orange toy sea animals. I had forgotten all about them until I found these two figures (see photos below) at a flea market in Raleigh, NC several years ago. They mystery is that I have no idea who made these toys, or when, exactly, they were produced. Furthermore, I can find absolutely no trace of them on the Internet. None.

The underside of this figure reads “Giant Squid 60ft” and the number 12. There is no manufacturer name or date (not even a “Made in China”). I am fairly certain that each animal in the set was numbered, indicating that there were at least twelve pieces.

[Squid Day Fact! It was once widely accepted that Architeuthis, the Giant Squid, grew to a maximum length of 60 ft. or even longer. These figures were largely based on a dubious report from 1877. Modern length estimates for Architeuthis are more conservative, usually in the 30-40 ft range. That's not to say that larger specimens are not waiting for us down in the depths...]

The other figure from this set that I have is the Giant Oarfish (Regalecus glesne), on which is printed “Oarfish 30ft” and the number 7. To my knowledge, this is the only toy reproduction of an oarfish that has ever been made.

Apart from the Giant Squid and the Oarfish, the only others I specifically remember are a Sperm Whale, Manta Ray, and (I think) a Sailfish.

A commenter on Flickr has a vague memory of these toys and thinks they might have been part of a mail away promotion, but he can’t remember anything else specific. So, if anyone has any information about this toy line–who made it, what other sea animals were included, etc.–please let me know!

Also, if anyone owns any other figures from this set, I’d love to post pictures of them here!